NEED TO KNOW ALGERIA Bitter Win Algeria’s traditional ruling political party, the National Liberation Front, garnered the most votes in parliamentary elections […]

NEED TO KNOW IRAN Exorcising Enemies Iran and world leaders hope to revive the 2015 nuclear accords before Iranian voters elect a […]

NEED TO KNOW EGYPT Writing Its Story The coronavirus pandemic devastated Egypt’s most important industry, tourism. In 2019, more than 13 million […]

NEED TO KNOW ISRAEL / WEST BANK & GAZA Now What The Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza have stopped shooting at each […]

NEED TO KNOW IRAQ Voices and Choices The United Nations believes that free and fair elections can help Iraq move on from […]

NEED TO KNOW SYRIA Survivor Syrian President Bashar al-Assad presided over a civil war that, since 2011, has resulted in 500,000 of […]

NEED TO KNOW ISRAEL/ WEST BANK & GAZA Historic Violence We’ve seen it before, all too often. Hamas fires rockets at Israel. […]

NEED TO KNOW KUWAIT Middle Eastern #MeToo Farah Hamza Akbar and her family told police that she feared that a man whose […]

NEED TO KNOW JORDAN The Middle Child Angry Jordanians regularly call into Rainbow Street, a talk radio show, to gripe about unemployment […]

NEED TO KNOW WORLD Global Fragility Critics of globalization have been repeating a mantra in the wake of the Japanese container ship […]

NEED TO KNOW SYRIA Hollow Victories Syria recently hit a grim anniversary: 10 years of brutal civil war. In addition to more […]

NEED TO KNOW ISRAEL A Desperate Suitor When Israeli voters go to the polls March 23, it will be the fourth time […]

NEED TO KNOW SAUDI ARABIA A Prince, a Reformer, a Murderer A recent American intelligence report has thrust Saudi Arabian Crown Prince […]

NEED TO KNOW WORLD On the Move The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t stopped citizens of poor and war-torn countries and leaders in affluent […]

NEED TO KNOW IRAQ A Government of Ghosts Sixteen years ago, after the US had occupied Iraq for more than two years, […]

NEED TO KNOW SAUDI ARABIA Dissidents in the Desert Saad al-Jabri saved hundreds of lives in 2010 when he warned British authorities […]

NEED TO KNOW ISRAEL Globalization MENA-Style The peace accord between Israel and the United Arab Emirates has created a tourism boom in […]

NEED TO KNOW WORLD Fighting Past Sunset President Donald Trump ordered most American troops out of Somalia in early December. But that […]

NEED TO KNOW IRAQ A Prerequisite for Trust Few people outside the White House defended President Donald Trump’s pardon of four Blackwater […]

NEED TO KNOW WESTERN SAHARA Singing the Sahara Blues Driving from Tan Tan, deep in southern Morocco, it’s a long, lonely road […]

NEED TO KNOW TUNISIA Hope’s Anniversary On Dec. 17, 2010, fruit and vegetable vendor Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire […]

NEED TO KNOW ISRAEL The Politics of Never Forgetting Yad Vashem is a phrase from the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew […]

NEED TO KNOW IRAN Chits and Chips The alleged Israeli assassination of lead Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last month sent another […]

NEED TO KNOW AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST Preexisting Conditions Palestinian authorities declared a public health disaster on Nov. 23. Hundreds contract Covid-19 […]